The University of Texas at Austin has filed a brief with the United States Supreme Court defending its use of race in undergraduate admissions decisions. The plaintiff in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, argues that she was denied admission to the university in 2008 because she is white.

In its brief, the university argues that race is just one factor in a holistic approach to admissions that meets the Court’s guidelines in the 2003 Grutter case. The brief maintains that the University of Texas “has a broad vision of diversity, which looks to a wide variety of individual characteristics — including an applicant’s culture; language; family; educational, geographic, and socioeconomic background; work, volunteer, or internship experiences; leadership experiences; special artistic or other talents, as well as race and ethnicity.” The university affirms its belief that “diversity has invaluable educational benefits” and therefore targeted efforts to create greater diversity are justified.

The Court is expected to hear oral arguments in the case on October 10.

Here is a video showing Bill Powers, president of the University of Texas at Austin, explaining the university’s brief.